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Enlightenment
Plot As a spacecraft departs a planet, a humanoid alien drinks an iridescent liquid and then dissolves. The remains of the alien cascade into a waterfall. The alien's DNA strands mix with the water. Burns decides to get. Hom At the base, they. Lisa, however, is unimpressed with the mechanic. In order to impress them, Dan offers to take them down to Room 113, where all the secret projects ("all the stuff that could destroy the world if let out") are kept. In Room 113, they find a large crystal, which Jurgen plans to use as a power source in experiments to find an alternative energy source, as well as a large, circular device, which Bart accidentally activates; the device turns out to be a communicator, playing a message from an alien. The alien reveals its name to be Artuke; member of a race called the Aeros. His kind created humanity and have been at war for millennia with another race called the Ferox, who plan to corrupt all of the universe. The only way to stop this is to return the control crystal to his ship, hidden deep below the ice. As they leave, they are met by Natalie, who, whilst initially disbelieving of them, is convinced when they show her the communicator. Suddenly, they are met by five, black-clad guards... who transform into enormous, white-furred aliens! Their leader gives his name as Marutas, General of the Ferox army and calmly, but forcefully, orders them to hand the crystal over! When they refuse, the Ferox attempt to attack them and take it; however, the quartet manages to escape into the ice caves below the base. Marutas orders the Ferox to pursue them; stating that the crystal must not be allowed to return to the Aeros... no matter the cost. Bart, Lisa, Dan and Natalie escape through the ice caves below the Enlightenment, all the while being pursued by the Ferox. Cornering Bart, Marutas briefly mocks him, calling him blind to an unspecified threat. Lisa rescues Bart and the quartet manage to successfully escape, however, they find themselves stranded in the caves when they get lost. Through the communicator, Artuke guides Bart, Lisa, Dan and Natalie to a large, artificial structure, which they enter. Inside they find stone pillars with skeletons chained to them, a large arena depicting frescoes of combatants from many races, a cargo hold with millions of little black capsules, containing a green liquid, and a control room containing a star map highlighting Earth... and Artuke's gigantic, sleeping form. Uncomfortable with the discoveries, the quartet attempt to return to Enlightenment, but become stranded in the structure when they get lost and are attacked by a tentacled plant creature, which mutated from moss that the liquid had spilled on. After defeating it, the crew encounter the Ferox again, who attack them; Marutas pontificates that the team have realised the threat posed by the Aeros. The team manages to escape the structure and head back to the Enlightenment. On their return, Bart, Lisa, Dan and Natalie are escorted into Room 113 and discover that Burns has secretly travelled to the Enlightenment. He explains that he wants to ask the Aeros to prevent his death from old age. Burns and a team return to the Aeros ship with the control crystal, accompanied by Bart, Lisa, Dan and Natalie. Artuke awakens from stasis and Burns speaks to him in an attempt to explain what he wants. Artuke, enraged, responds by killing Burns, Smithers and the majority of their team, before demanding the control crystal. When Bart refuses to hand it over, Artuke forcibly takes it, opens a trap door and throws them into the underbelly of the ship, separating Bart from the others and trapping him in the arena, before preparing the ship for take-off. Bart, chained to a pillar, is tortured by the ship's AI for his "defiance". Marutas enters the chamber and revealed that the war between the Aeros and the Ferox began when the Ferox turned against their creators, the Aeros, choosing free will over their tyranny. Whilst the Aeros prevailed and cast out the Ferox, the vanquished retaliated by interfering in evolution throughout the universe, bringing the gifts of free will and individuality to all sentient creatures that the Aeros did not want them to have. Marutas further explains that Artuke, viewing humanity as a "disease", had been planning to release the mutagen on Earth, wiping out all life on the planet. Marutas frees Bart and the two leave to defeat Artuke together. Meeting up with the remaining crew, they come up with a plan. Using a fragment of the crystal Bart secretly took as a power source, Dan converts Jurgen's reactor into a weapon to disable Artuke's craft, whilst Bart and Marutas teleport on board. As Artuke's rapidly descending spacecraft begins to crash, they plan to sneak into the control room and steal the crystal. They successfully remove the crystal and head for the escape pods. However, Artuke detects them trying to escape and attacks them. Marutas fights Artuke, in order to distract him from Bart's escape. The ship crashes, killing Artuke, as Bart escapes with the crystal in one of the escape pods. After the pod lands, Bart rushes to the fatally injured Marutas, and the two share a fond goodbye, with Marutas giving Bart (as a representation of humanity) the choice to stay neutral in the Ferox/Aeros war. Marutas' crew and the remaining Enlightenment personnel hold a funeral for Marutas, and the Ferox leave, parting with the humans on amicable terms. Bart takes the crystal and hides it in the ruins of the Enlightenment, in room 113, where it was first found, before leaving. Cast *Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson and Additional Voices *Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson *Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson, Maggie Simpson and Additional Voices *Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson *Harry Shearer as *Hank Azaria as *Benedict Cumberbatch as Marutas, a "terrifying alien warrior with plans for Earth". Jackson stated that Cumberbatch was his "first and only" choice for the role. Elaborating, he stated that "Benedict brought the perfect energy to the role; he had to sound refined but brutal. You had to get the sense you'd be intimidated by him.". On the character, Cumberbatch said, "He's very determined. He's not brutish, however. He's eloquent but vicious; the sort of guy who speaks at length with someone before killing them.". Cumberbatch also said that there was "a lot of comic relief to Marutas", but the character was not aware of it. *Chris Pratt as Dan, a mechanic at the base who befriends Bart and Lisa. Jackson commented after reading the script; "This guy is so Chris Pratt". Pratt commented "When I came into the recording room, I asked Nathan Jackson what he wanted me to do. He looked at me, like I had gone crazy and said 'Do what you always do!". *Bryce Dallas Howard as Natalie, a lab-tech at the base. Howard was cast because of Nathan Jackson watching her in Jurassic World and the repartee she had with Chris Pratt in that film. *Stephen Fry as Artuke, an "enigmatic alien guide whose motives may not be all they appear". Jackson wrote the film's dialogue specifically with Fry in mind for the role. Fry commented, "It was a very difficult role to do. You had to bring the right energy to the role; the voice had to be very enigmatic, but sound trustworthy at the same time. You had to understand why you would trust him." *Christoph Waltz as Dr. Hans Jurgen, a scientist at the base. Of his character, Waltz stated, "He's very fussy. He's absentminded, and blusters quite a bit. He's the classic absent-minded professor sort of character" Since the character interacts with Homer a lot, Nathan Jackson had Dan Castellaneta and Christoph Waltz record their lines together; meaning that a lot of their dialogue was improvised. Waltz commented "My character bonds with Homer a lot and we end up forming this sort of Odd Couple dynamic - I'm the neat freak and he's the slob!" *Toby Kebbell as TBA *Ron Perlman as TBA Production Jackson and Gilmore.At S89 Expo, Jackson and Gilmore confirmed the possibility of at least two more sequels, each based on a genre of film. Jackson commented they were searching for ideas for the sequel, but they were thinking around the idea of "a alien movie", but a movie that moved away from the classic "flying saucer" aspect of aliens. Of the films, Enlightenment was supposed to be the "classic science-fiction story" of the four films, with House of Horrors being the "gothic horror", being the "monster film" and Dragonhunters being the "fantasy film". In June 2012, Nathan Jackson gave details about the film's plot: "The film's sort of a science-fiction story, set in Antarctica. It's about Homer accepting a posting to Antarctica and the Simpsons end up in this base, where a chain of events leads to them encountering these two warring factions of aliens, which both have their own plans for Earth..." One of Jackson and Gilmore's intentions was to explore what aliens represent in film. Nathan Jackson said: "It's time to do a movie where you get to see what would really happen if aliens landed on Earth; if we encountered aliens." Influences included Stargate, Chariots of the Gods and the works of H.P.Lovecraft. At the S89 Expo it was announced that Toby Kebbell (who voiced Redcap), Steve Zahn and Christoph Waltz had joined the cast of the film. The decision to set the film in Antarctica came about because "House of Horrors worked because it was set in a very restricted location; so we needed to get that, but on a much grander scale. If you set it in Antarctica, which is pretty much as isolated as you can get, it gives that restricted feel". Initially, it was reported that the film would be called Paradise,16 named after John Milton's poem Paradise Lost, but Scott considered that this would convey too much information about the film. Other titles considered included Creation and Origins. However, Matt Groening suggested Enlightenment, which was confirmed as the title shortly after. The reason why In June 2015, it was announced that there had been major cast and script revisions. It was revealed that Steve Zahn had been replaced by Chris Pratt, and Toby Kebbell had been replaced by Benedict Cumberbatch, (Kebbell would be recast in a smaller role and Zahn would later be cast in Dinohunters). Stephen Fry and Bryce Dallas Howard were also announced to voice unspecified characters. On the cast revisions, Jackson explained ""There was a delay, because we felt we needed to change the script, really, it was really about the themes of the film, so that we could push the ideas we were trying to infer. Then everything else, all the other characters that supported that story came in and out and changed and evolved and through that evolution, some of those performers changed out of it." Design For the Ferox and Aeros, Jackson wanted to create creatures that had never been seen in film before. In order to achieve this, Nathan Jackson visited biologists Curtis Clark and David Moriarty in order to figure out what an extraterrestrial lifeform might look like. The aliens (codenamed EBE-1) were also designed via input from artists Joschua Knuppe and C.M. Kosemen. Jackson stated "We wanted them to seem essentially outlandish in a way, but on the other hand you could sort of imagine them existing: you feel like they could really exist... So to take an outlandish design and then render it with an attention to real animal anatomy and detail is interesting." The Ferox had to be designed to look like "the ultimate predators", so features from various animals were incorporated; polar bears were looked at for the color scheme and body design. In order to observe how they would move, the designers looked at linebackers for motion reference. Their tattoos are based on Samoan and Maori tribal tattoos and allowed the designers to differentiate each character. Themes As a classic science-fiction story, Enlightenment focuses on an ancient war between two equally ancient species, which subsequently gains new weight as our own main characters enter the ordeal. Jackson clarified that the religious themes were not present in earlier drafts, but were added as the story evolved. The central theme in Enlightenment is that "there was once a war in heaven... and the wrong side won." The film deals with humanity's relationship with the gods—their creators—and the consequence of defying them. One of the allegories in the film is that of Prometheus, the Titan of Greek mythology who defies the gods and gifts humanity with fire, for which he is subjected to eternal punishment. Both Bart and Marutas become figures akin to Prometheus, bringing the gifts of free will, individuality, and consciousness, to all of humanity and are punished for it by the vengeful gods. Like the Aeros, the gods want to limit their creations in case they attempt to usurp the gods. The Aeros' tyranny provoked the Ferox's rebellion and, whilst the counterfeit gods prevailed and cast out the Ferox, the vanquished retaliated by bringing the gifts of free will and individuality to all sentient creatures that their oppressors did not want them to have. Aside from Prometheus, Jackson was also influenced by the Gnostic interpretation of Genesis. In this interpretation, God is a sadistic being, oppressing his creations in case they seek to usurp him. The serpent of Eden aids humanity, giving them free will, allowing them to escape the clutches of their oppressive creator, and is punished for it. The Ferox are figures akin to the serpent, manipulating human evolution so they can be free from the tyranny of the gods. This idea is shown in a flashback, in which a Ferox offers a pregnant woman some fruit that has been doused in the mutagen, which will affect her unborn foetus, granting it self-awareness and free will. According to Jackson, Enlightenment is, at heart, about a small group of heroes who go on a quest from God and receive knowledge about belief, immortality and death. However, they find superior beings who appear god-like in comparison to humanity, and the main characters all suffer consequences for their pursuit. Both Lisa and Burns are curious because they want their beliefs affirmed, and believe they are entitled to answers from God; their questions remain unanswered and God attempts to punish them for their hubris. The film offers similar resolution, providing items of information but leaving the connections and conclusions to the audience, potentially leaving the question unanswered. Another theme is creation and the question of "Who Am I? Who Made Me? Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?" Development of the in-universe mythology explored the Judeo-Christian creation of man, but Jackson was interested in Greco-Roman and Aztec creation myths about gods who create man in their own image by sacrificing a piece of themselves. This creation is shown in the film's opening, in which an Aeros drinks the mutagen and sacrifices itself to bring life to a world. Jackson likened the Ferox to the dark angels of John Milton's Paradise Lost, and said that humanity was their offspring and not God's. Lisa, Jurgen and Natalie are religious believers (although not in the Judaeo-Christian vein) in the crew and openly display their religious beliefs. Jackson said that with their scientific knowledge, their beliefs feel outdated. All three believers become curious when they learn that extraterrestrials had a hand in the creation of humanity, but rather than cause them to lose their faith, it reinforces it. In addition to the religious themes, Jackson said that Enlightenment is pro-science and explores whether scientific knowledge and faith in God can co-exist. Music The film's score is being composed by Steve Jablonsky. This will make his first animated film.